Really? That sucks. Another reason to ignore them.

I'm on chapter 6 now. Loving the game even more. After I reach the next town, I guess I should take my time in doing sidequests and go for a deeper exploring of the world.

Yeah, where I am at: you can just switch between the two forms at will.
I am unsure if that changes.

It gets a lot faster, auto-attacks fill up the Arts ATBs quicker later on, also you get skills that allow you to use full Arts at the beginning of the battle which speeds things a lot.

Of course, it's going to be a mix, some enemies are tougher and will take longer to kill, but with combos and chain attacks, even those become fairly easy once you figure out the easiest combos with the blades you have.

115 hours, first clear. No new game plus sucks, still need to grab some rare blades before im finished up

There's an update coming early next year to give the game a New Game+ mode.  

So I have finally been able to play with the game this last week. I am at the start of chapter 4, and here are my thoughts.

1. I both like and dislike how they have done the tutorial. I like that they give it to you in steps so that you focus one thing at a time, but dislike when they do it (in immersive boss battles.)

2. I absolutely hate how you can destroy an enemy and then its followed by a cut-scene where you are losing. Every other Xeno game was designed with battles that somewhat correlated with what happens in the cutscene.

3. The cutscenes are great (beside my problem with #2) and definitely enhance the story. I switch between English and Japanese dubs, but would play more in English if the lip-syncing wasn't so bad. There are cringe moments in both dubs (Rex's English screaming and his Japanese crying.)

4. Combat is the best in the entire meta-series, and has strong inspiration from every game. I think it is probably my favorite balance between action and turns in a game yet. I love the idea of stacking combos to maximize damage, and the battles feel much more involved/less auto-attack focused than Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles X.

5. The world-building and setting feels like a SNES/PS rpg, and that is a huge plus for me.

6. The strong Xenogears vibes of the plot (so far) make the story more appealing than any since Xenogears, in my opinion. So far it feels like a more streamlined Xenogears without all of Freud/Jung allusions and tangent plotlines. For that reason it feels a little bit more intricate than XBC's story. I hope it doesn't disappoint, because I have high expectations. I also love the anime comedy that can be found in the game. It is not over the top, but still fun.

7. I like the balance between the open-world and linear moments in the game.

8. So far no side-quests have blown me away, but they are of good quality on average.

9. All of the characters are interesting.

10. I wish Nintendo/Monolith Soft didn't spoil so much of the early story.

11. This is probably my favorite Xenoblade game yet (so far), and in terms of overall quality it is the most fully-fleshed Xeno-game.

12. The cities/nations are much better than in previous games, and again remind me of Xenogears' Aveh, Nisan, Shevat, etc. The environments are on par with both of the prior Xenoblade games.

13. The framerate problem (and low image quality) is noticeable, but hasn't affected my enjoyment too much. I like playing in both handheld and on the television equally depending on what I am doing. Handheld --> sidequests; television --> story.

Anyway, I am addicted, but probably can't play too much more of the main story until this weekend.

Okay, finally got stuck back into this after taking a week off for the Zelda DLC.

Just finished Chapter 3. Whoa, that ending. I really hope the "Foresight" throwback to Xenoblade 1 manifests as a similar in-game mechanic later on, I still miss that.  Mythra vs Malos having had a titanic battle well before the game reminds me a lot of Zanza and Meyneth too, in a good way.

2. I agree. But even then, there are still battles in the game were it cuts to the cutscenes in the mid of it.

10. Don't worry. There is still a ton of stuff they didn't spoiled. Be prepared. It will give you plenty of "WTF" moments.

I'm getting really tired of how badly made some of these sidequests are. (Well let's be honest, *most of them are)